


Crimes Against Laundry

by My_Trex_has_fleas



Series: Land and Sea [21]
Category: Poldark - All Media Types, Return to Treasure Island (TV)
Genre: Kissing, Laundry, M/M, Suggestive Glances
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-01
Updated: 2015-09-01
Packaged: 2018-04-18 13:14:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4707266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/My_Trex_has_fleas/pseuds/My_Trex_has_fleas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ross finds out that laundry is serious business.</p><p>This is a fill for the Summer Fandom Raffle Exchange. No. 103. 'Where have all my sweaters gone and why are you wearing my socks?'</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crimes Against Laundry

Jim frowned. He’d only been gone for four weeks and the state of the laundry room in their cottage was displeasing in the extreme. It was a tip, if he was being honest. And more importantly, he could not find what he was looking for. 

‘Ross?’ he called. There was no answer. Jim sighed and put down the laundry detergent and went in search of his boyfriend. He found him lying on the sofa, controller in hand and swearing into his headset as he played co-op with Carter. ‘Hey.’ Ross ignored him in favour of barking orders at Carter. 

Jim’s eyes narrowed as he took in the sight of Ross stretched out on the sofa. Then he clocked something that immediately raised suspicion. He looked at Ross pointedly but Ross was deep in COD and no amount of passive aggressive posturing on Jim’s part would get his attention. It made Jim want to go over and switch the damn game off.

He and Ross had both agreed to disagree on their mutual dislike of each other’s platforms and game choices, especially as their track record with gaming wasn’t especially good. Annoyed with the lack of response he was getting, he walked over to the TV and stood in front of it. Ross glared at him and tried to shift to see around him. Jim folded his arms and met the glare with one of his own. Ross, with all credit to his sense of self-preservation which had become a hell of a lot better at reading the signs of Hurricane James since they had moved in together, took note of the expression on Jim’s face and bid Carter a hasty goodbye and signed off. Then he rolled into a sitting position and looked at Jim questioningly.

‘What?’ he asked and Jim raised one eyebrow at him. 

‘So.’ he said, injecting just the right amount of tone into his voice. ‘I come back from deployment.’

‘Clearly.’ Ross was now starting to look suspicious. 

‘And I was greeted with my loving boyfriend who’d made dinner and managed not to burn down the house while I was gone.’

‘And who made you scream the roof off.’ Ross interjected. ‘Don’t forget that.’ He could obviously tell that Jim was on the warpath and wanted to get as many brownie points in as possible. ‘Whatever I’ve done should definitely be mitigated by the fact that last night ended in multiple orgasms.’ Jim deepened the glare and Ross shut his mouth so quickly it was comical.

‘That will not save you, Ross Poldark.’ he said. ‘Where have all my sweaters gone and why are you wearing my socks?

‘Oh Jesus.’ Ross looked like a fox caught in a henhouse. ‘I can completely explain.’ 

‘Really?’ Jim said, folding his arms. ‘Well then, explain away.’

‘Well, you know how you’re always saying I never do laundry?’ Ross said. ‘It’s actually that I do do laundry, but you always seem to think I haven’t done it properly and re-do it. Just like you did with Rose. So I decided to show you that I am perfectly capable of doing laundry while you were gone.’

‘Firstly, don’t drag my mother into this.’ Jim said. ‘And secondly, don’t even think about trying to weasel out of what you’ve done by turning this into a situation where you say you only did it to please me.’

‘But I did.’ Ross said, his confidence unwavering. ‘I would never ever have dared to interfere with your laundry regime, and I really do mean that in the fullest sense of the word, if you hadn’t said I couldn’t do it properly. I even think your exact words were ‘A junior cadet could correctly sort colours and whites better than you.’ And you should fucking know by now that I cannot let a challenge like that lie.’ 

‘Oh Christ Almighty.’ Ross would swear that Jim had just gone three shades paler. ‘What the fuck did you do Ross?’ 

‘I did the laundry.’ Ross said, like he was admitting to a serious crime. ‘I did three loads, darks, whites and bedsheets.’ 

‘And?’ Jim was frowning. ‘That doesn’t account for the lack of sweaters or the fact that all your socks seem to have….’ He trailed off and then the full horror of the situation dawned on him. ‘Oh my God. You did a fourth load, didn’t you?’ 

‘I may have.’ Ross was avoiding looking at him directly. ‘It was the supposed to be the wool cycle.’

‘But you had just washed the bedsheets.’ Jim shook his head. ‘Oh for fuck’s sake, Ross.’ His exasperation was clear, but there was also something else and it was confusing the hell out of Ross. ‘You forgot to change the temperature, didn’t you?’ Ross nodded, the picture of guilt. ‘All my sweaters?’ 

‘The weather’s changing. And they were kind of musty from being in the wardrobe.’ Ross said. ‘If it’s any consolation, all my socks bought it as well.’ He stopped as he noticed something really weird happening to Jim’s face, like he was  
simultaneously battling the urge to scream and to giggle at the same time. ‘Are you okay?’ 

‘Where are they?’ Jim asked, and his voice was tight, but not in the way he got when he was angry. Ross sighed and got up off the sofa. 

‘In the laundry.’ he said in a resigned voice. 

He led them through the kitchen and opened the airing cupboard and handed Jim a plastic Bag for Life. Jim took it and upended it on the top of the washer. They both looked at the sad pile that consisted of four sweaters and seven pairs of socks, all made of pure wool and all shrunk to child-like proportions. 

‘I am truly and deeply sorry.’ Ross said, biting his lip anxiously. Then , to his complete and utter surprise the stormy expression cleared as if blown away by trade winds. Jim shook his head again and chuckled as he looked at the sweaters.

‘Fuck.’ he said, but his voice was full of laughter. ‘I love you.’

‘Even though I just committed a crime against delicate fabrics?’ Ross asked and Jim raised his head, blue-green eyes sparkling. He moved into Ross’ space and hooked his fingers through the belt loops of Ross’ jeans, pulling him in close and then stood on tip toe and kissed him. Ross was as surprised as all hell. But he wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth so he kissed back, even managing to get in a little sneaky tongue action. When they parted, Jim’s breathing was uneven.

‘You are fucking lucky those orgasms were spectacular.’ he said. ‘And you’re fucking lucky you kiss like that, Poldark.’ Ross grinned, knowing that he’d just dodged a bullet. He decided to press his luck and picked Jim up, dumping him on the washer and moving between his legs, hands going under Jim’s t-shirt to stroke his sides in what he hoped was a seductive fashion.

‘I have many other talents.’ he said. ‘Want me to show you?’ Jim laughed and wrapped his legs around Ross’ hips, pulling him in against him and locking his ankles at the small of Ross’ back. He looked up through his thick gold lashes at Ross with an expression that made Ross' breath catch.

‘Go on, then.’ he said.


End file.
